Dr. King understood that in addition to a tough mind, the gospel demands a tender heart. He spoke insightfully about the dangers of being tough minded while lacking a tender heart. We must strive to be righteous without being self-righteous. We must be devoted to justice without losing our capacity for compassion. Those who are tough minded must make sure they do not become hardhearted. Authentic love must include justice, and lasting, redemptive justice must include love. As Cornel West reminds us, “Justice is what loves looks like in public.” True justice always flows from a deep sense of compassion for every part of God’s creation and each and every person. Without being tempered by mercy and compassion, justice will inevitably devolve into another form of injustice. History teaches us that the oppressed, once liberated, often become oppressors of other vulnerable groups. MLK said, “Jesus reminds us that the good life combines the toughness of the serpent and the tenderness of the dove. To have serpent-like qualities devoid of dove-like qualities is to be passionless, mean, and selfish. To have dove-like without serpent-like qualities is to be sentimental, anemic, and aimless. We must combine strongly marked antitheses.”
He also warned against the danger of soft-minded people who become resigned to living with injustice simply by adjusting to it. He labelled such soft-minded acquiescence cowardly. To cooperate with evil is to become a participant in that evil. Similarly, MLK warned that toughminded individuals who become hardhearted and bitter are more likely to resort to violence and hatred. Following the teachings of Jesus and the wisdom and experiences of Mahatma Gandhi, King repeatedly taught that violence only begets more violence and whatever victories result from such violence are temporary and can never bring lasting peace.
A different path must be chosen if the costly cycle of violence can be broken. MLK, following the teachings of Jesus and the tactics of the Mahatma, discovered the strength of nonviolent resistance which, in his words, “combines tough mindedness and tender heartedness and avoids the complacency and do-nothingness of the soft minded and the violence and bitterness of the hardhearted.” He maintained this combination reflects the nature of God. The Scriptures demonstrate repeatedly the tough mindedness of God’s justice and the tenderheartedness of God’s love and grace. “God is neither hardhearted nor soft minded. He is tough minded enough to transcend the world; he is tenderhearted enough to live in it. He does not leave us alone in our agonies and struggles. He seeks us in dark places and suffers with us and for us in our tragic prodigality.”
Following Gandhi, Dr. King used nonviolent resistance to secure the rights of people of color. The Montgomery bus boycott inspired by Rosa Parks, the sit-ins of Black students, and the marches for civil rights were all examples of nonviolent resistance. Gandhi said the purpose of all nonviolent resistance is to provoke a response. Such resistance is costly, but makes public and undeniable the injustices which oppress and disenfranchise children of God. The conscience of the nation was deeply touched and outraged by the violent methods used by police and hooligans when Blacks and their allies were beaten with clubs, set upon by dogs, assaulted by firehoses, lynched, burned, and shot. Through the media of television, pictures, and videos of such horrible treatment of people simply trying to claim their constitutional rights came directly into the homes of millions of American citizens. The cross these courageous human beings chose to bear brought terrible pain, but through that suffering, Jim Crow and its oppression were revealed for what they were: cowardly brutality, reactionary ignorance and barbaric assumptions. Although bigotry did not end during this early stage of our nation’s civil rights struggle, progress was made, legislation was passed, and attitudes began to change. A peaceful revolution occurred without a shot being fired by those engaging in nonviolent resistance.
Prior to this nonviolent revolution there were many decades of struggles, sacrifices, setbacks, and suffering. Over 4000 lynchings preceded the 1950s and 1960s progress in civil rights in the US. The “good trouble” of the civil rights era had its victories, but there is still so much bigotry, discrimination, disenfranchisement, and mass, unjust incarceration (the latter becoming today’s equivalent of lynching). Authentic liberty and justice for all require vigilance, dedication, and solidarity. None of that is in vogue in today’s self-centered, shallow, and greedy society. But if enough of us who actually care about freedom and justice become agents of “good trouble,” we can make a difference, perhaps the difference our culture needs to save its soul as it seeks the “common good.”
Our nation is tragically broken in many ways: economically where income and wealth inequity is deplorable; politically where one of the two major parties is controlled by an amoral, lying wannabe demagogue; racially where evil geniuses are designing new legislative and judicial tactics to disenfranchise people of color; environmentally where profits are prized above the health and future of the planet; vocationally where more and more poor and low-income workers are not paid a living wage and are treated more like serfs than children of God; sexually where men seek to control women’s bodies; religiously where the vast majority of white Evangelicals in no way reflect the teachings and example of Jesus; and educationally where teachers are forced by some states to teach a distorted history regarding the racism and genocide which still plague our nation. What might we do to begin to address all this brokenness?
There are certain movies I watch several times a year which inspire me not to give up on our nation and the human race. One of those movies is Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi. At one point in the movie, Gandhi suggests that the native people of India observe “a national day of prayer and fasting.” Such a day would also constitute a general strike. Indians by the tens of millions would simply not show up for work. This tactic terrified the British imperial government in India. The British learned quickly how much they were dependent upon the Indian people for every aspect of society. With such a strike, the entirety of the Raj colonial government would become paralyzed.
The Rev. Dr. William Barber II in his Poor People’s Campaign refers to a sleeping giant made up of poor and low-income workers. He suggests that if this sleeping giant can be awakened, much could change for the better in our society. Barber focuses mainly on the sleeping power of poor and low-income voters. But perhaps this sleeping giant has far more hidden power than just as the ballot box. For example, what might happen if the workers in this country go on strike en masse? Billionaires and large business corporations who depend on the labor of this sleeping giant would be forced to make radical changes which would result in a fairer economic system. And that fairer system could also help deal with many of the other ways our nation is broken. Workers could demand a fair wage, healthcare benefits, reasonable sick leave, adequate vacation, maternity and paternity leave, safe working conditions, humane hours, work stability, and much more. Of course, the billionaires and large corporations would insist that they can’t afford to provide such life-affirming benefits. And they are correct. None of this can be afforded as long as the profits and obscene wealth they enjoy continue at their current levels. None of them would work under the conditions they expect their “serfs” to labor. “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you (if you were in their shoes)” apparently has little meaning for many of those with power and wealth.
The powers that be would be terrified if the vast majority of the poor and working-class demanded their fair share of our nation’s wealth.
The powers that be would be terrified if the vast majority of the poor and working-class demanded their fair share of our nation’s wealth. So far, those who enjoy an inequitable advantage have been able to keep the poor and low-income workers from understanding how much they have in common. Through pandering to the base fears and prejudices of many poor and low-wealth workers, they have succeeded in a “divide and conquer” strategy. Racial scapegoating has been a favorite and effective tactic to prevent people from realizing they are in the same boat. Imagine the transformation of our society if this “sleeping giant” could wake up to the actual source of their discomfort and struggles and could recognize the amazing power they have if they come together to bring about justice and the common good in our land. Perhaps such solidarity, nonviolent resistance, and overwhelming turnouts during elections could even save our democracy.
Of course, such tactics would be costly. Gandhi and MLK were well aware of the sacrifices that might result from such nonviolent and courageous campaigns. But are there not costs, victims, and suffering present among tens of millions of people today? A multitude of reasons can be given for not becoming a part of “a national day of prayer and fasting.” But if enough people join and support such an effort (and find novel and effective ways to care for one another), I would imagine that the principalities and powers would cave in quickly, especially if there was an overwhelming and committed effort. Gandhi brought about the liberation of a whole country through nonviolent resistance. MLK brought an end to centuries of disgraceful and entrenched racism in its most violent forms through the same tactics used in India. Both men were wise as serpents and innocent as doves. I suggest that such a movement or something equally radical and powerful is required today if we are to save our democracy and bring about a society where the common good for all men, women, and children is the true goal of a nation which swears allegiance to assure “liberty and justice for all.” The status quo simply cannot continue. Indeed, it’s already falling apart. We can self-destruct as a nation by continuing a system which increasingly makes the rich richer and the poor poorer and disenfranchises millions of citizens, or we take responsibility for the preservation of freedom and justice. Change will come, and we will choose the nature of that change. Something like “a national day of prayer and fasting” which would be adapted to our time and situation sounds like a good start if we can join hands, heads, and hearts to participate in enough “good trouble.”
(I know this proposal sounds impossible. Questions like, “How could families survive without the wages that would be lost during such a strike? What about strikebreakers/scabs? How could enough people ever be mobilized to embrace nonviolent resistance? What about our economy? How long would it take to prepare people for such a radical step?” We are already in a crisis which cannot continue. We are only a few steps away from becoming a neo-fascist state run by the wealthy and powerful. Tens of millions of people are struggling with poverty, injustice, and suffering. It’s time for a massive grassroot movement to demand radical change. If enough citizens joined in an effort of nonviolent resistance which could transform the US into a nation of compassion and justice, we might just survive as a beacon of freedom, equality, and justice. But the clock is ticking. We have only so much time left to avoid the fate of every other empire in history. “A national day of prayer and fasting” practiced on a regular or prolonged basis doesn’t sound too radical and unrealistic in the face of the unthinkable alternative of self-destruction.)
